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Sunday Inspiration from Pray the Psalms
By Mark D. Roberts | Sunday, June 17, 2007
Excerpt
The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
Psalm 135:15
Click here to read all of Psalm 135
Prayer
O Lord, I don’t worship literal idols. I don’t have silver or gold statues of gods before which I bow down. But I am caught up in a culture that worships silver and gold. The materialism around me is so rampant and so pervasive that it feels, well, normal. I confess, Lord, that often I don’t even sense its corrosion of my soul. Yet I can let my love of things get in the way of my love of You. I can fool myself into thinking that if I can just get the next thing, then I’ll be happy. I know this is silly, Lord. And I hate to admit it. But it’s true. Forgive me.
I know I can’t serve You and money. So help me, Lord, to seek You first and foremost. Help me to be generous, thus breaking the power of Mammon over my life. Help me to sacrifice things for the sake of Your kingdom. Help me to delight in the priceless “stuff” of life that doesn’t have a literal price: the beauty of nature, the love of family, the pleasure of Your peace.
Postscript
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:22-33
Sun and clouds over Boerne, Texas
Topics: Sunday Inspiration |
2 Responses to “Sunday Inspiration from Pray the Psalms”
Comments
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June 17th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
Dr. Roberts,
I stumbled upon your site and this prayer over Psalm 135. This hit the spot. I am a smart guy who has not yet found his calling. I don’t make the money that my friends have and I get awfully worried about this. This prayer made me think and made me feel better
Robert
June 18th, 2007 at 6:12 am
I can’t read the Matthew “lillies” quote without thinking about “Lillies of the Field” with Sydney Poitier (also a great book). All about the joy of service to others. Much better than a lot of silver and gold.